Dee Ocleppo: I'm no trophy wife

Dee Ocleppo doesn't want "trophy wife" written on her gravestone.

The model turned handbag designer and current wife of the fashion mogul Tommy Hilfiger, has revealed that she won't hide in the shadows of her husband's success or rely on his fortune and has created her eponymous bag collection to prove it.

She said: "Tommy's a hard act to follow. But it's very important for me to prove myself. I definitely don't want 'She was a that trophy wife' written on my grave."

Meanwhile Dee - who has two children with her ex-husband the Italian tennis player Gianni Ocleppo and one son, Sebastian, with Tommy who she married in 2008 - says she is extremely blessed and happy with life.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, she said: "To know Tommy is to love him. He is honestly the nicest, kindest man."

And added: "Sebastian was definitely not planned. I think Tommy was petrified when I told him. But to have a six-year-old is such a blessing, and now that Timmy's daughter has a baby there are grandchildren. I've got a 20-year-old doing his own thing and I've got children's toys in the backyard. I couldn't love my life more."

Prices for the accessory that sells in Harrods and Saks range from £495 to £11,000 and the blonde-beauty is setting her sights on creating a 'Bag Bar' where buyers can create their own customisable pieces and have styles named after cocktails.